Deputy Minister: EVA approves AstraZeneca vaccine, it will not be used in the elderly



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“AstraZeneca has already been approved by the European Medicines Agency. (…) I am not yet familiar with the details, but to the best of my knowledge, as the vaccine studies were not sufficiently detailed in the population 55 plus, they do not recommend the use of this vaccine to these people ”, said the deputy minister to BNS.

According to her, studies have been done in younger people, so it’s unclear if the vaccine is effective enough in older people.

“That in no way means that the vaccine is harmful,” he said.

According to Ž.Simonaitytė, Lithuania will follow EVA’s recommendations and AstraZeneca will vaccinate the youngest.

Lithuanian Davos, cyber (no) security

Lithuanian Davos, cyber (no) security

“We use all the drugs according to the approved instructions, so we will use the vaccine accordingly for those groups where there are younger people,” he said.

The EVA itself has not yet provided information on the approval of the vaccine, although it plans to do so.

For its part, the German vaccination commission recommended this Thursday that AstraZeneca be vaccinated against COVID-19 only in people under 65 years of age. He bases this on the lack of data on the efficacy of the vaccine in the elderly.

As reported this week by the Presidency, the European Union (EU) is currently in intense negotiations with the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca on the supply of vaccines.

The company announced last week that it will supply fewer vaccines to EU countries in the first quarter of this year than expected. Lithuania’s Health Ministry said over the weekend that the country would receive only a fifth of previously planned vaccines.

Gytis Andrulionis, head of the State Drug Control Service, told BNS on Tuesday that AstraZeneca had increased the quantities of COVID-19 vaccines that were planned to be delivered to Lithuania and other members of the European Union in February, but did not detail the number.

Johnson & Johnson said Friday that the COVID-19 vaccine it is developing is 66 percent effective.

They speak of the end of February or the first half of March.

According to the Vice Minister of Health, the vaccine could be approved in February.

“It’s about the end of February or the first half of March,” said Simonaitytė.

The BionTech and Pfizer vaccines were launched in the community last month and the Moderna vaccine was approved in early January.



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